August 06, 2010

Briefs

No, not that kind. Maybe for the next post...

Peggy Noonan, condensed, due to our recognition of the overriding importance of compassion and minimizing pain:

The American Dream needs a boost! Many Americans no longer believe life will always improve, and that their children will have it better than they did. Real Americans had always believed this, but they're right to feel pessimistic now.

We have cities where English is becoming the second language! We are only spottily successful in communicating to our young America's reason for being and founding beliefs. Our bonds of togetherness are fraying!

We need to close the borders and stop "illegal" immigration! We need to stop taking people's money, especially when we take it and give it to those people. We need to protect all the oppressed, victimized, affluent white Americans! That's what our founding beliefs were all about!

Our leaders don't care about any of this. They don't understand that this nation is in trouble, it needs help. This makes a lot of Americans (the real ones, not the other kind) feel powerless, which gets added to what used to be an un-American pessimism. Bad combination!

There might be violence! Secession! Revolution! Help us keep what's rightfully ours, what God gave us! If you don't, you may be sorry. Very sorry.

David Brooks, also condensed due to considerations of compassion & so forth:

This is a column about Big Thoughts. You need to think about Your Life.

Some people say you need to find a purpose. Then you need to figure out how to allocate your time, energy and talent. To do this, you should use a business methodology, using the strategist's models and theories. Use the right metrics! Don't forget about marginal costs! People who think about Their Lives this way are often serious Christians.

Some other people think Life is an unknowable landscape. To be explored! Business methodologies might not work. This person wonders, "What is this Bigness called Life asking me to do?" (The other person asks, "What should I do in this Bigness called Life?") The second kind of person doesn't think generally or make long-term plans. Life happens while you're making plans! So this person thinks very specifically about what is happening right now. "What am I being summoned to do right now?" is what this person wants to know.

The second kind of person thinks about Concrete. Nothing is Bigger than Concrete.

I think you should do both! Probably. This is why I'm so smart and you're not, why I write for The New York Times and you don't. This is why all my views are so remarkably well-considered.